Recced because: As I've mentioned in a previous rec, I love stories that present an outsider view of the Doctor. This story does that better than most. It's told from Inara's point of view and recounts the night a strange blue box appeared in the Academy gardens.

The prose is wonderful--lyrical and very dense. Both the beautiful setting and the emotions just pop right off the page. For the Doctor, this is set right after the Time War, and it shows the pain he's in and the first, tiny, glorious step towards recovery. And I don't want to give away anything, so let's just say that it also ties in beautifully with Firefly canon.